Recommendations

OPTION A - A gravel bike with fat rubber and big stoppers! 160 mm hydro brakes and 700x38 - 45 (or fatter) tyres. The course is either up, or down.

We suggest a gravel-grinder style bike as being the most appropriate bike for this race. Your endurance roadie with 28’s is not suitable. An XC bike would also be a great option, but expect to be 2-3km/h slower over the course. 

We recommend minimum 32mm width tyres and would encourage anything width from 42mm but really the fatter the better. Some surfaces are rough and you will appreciate more cushion and volume in your tyres to reduce road feedback and improve handling. A tubeless tyre setup is also highly desirable if possible.

We suggest hydraulic disc brakes with 160mm rotors over the 140mm or rim brakes seen on many Cyclocross bikes. There are some steep and technical descents.

Gearing should be carefully considered. Regular sustained 8-12 degree climbs are common and there are a few short pinches of up to 18 degrees. Referring to the chart below we recommend a sub 1.0 gear ratio for most people. If you consider yourself a strong climber a 1.0 ratio might be ok, however for most people a 0.90 or smaller will be more comfortable, particularly toward the end of the day.